


Hold to a promise you never made

by DanzaNelFuoco



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Heavy Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-19 11:55:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18135419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DanzaNelFuoco/pseuds/DanzaNelFuoco
Summary: Rin is beautiful.Ryuuji is about to die and he can’t think anything else.





	Hold to a promise you never made

**Author's Note:**

> COW-T #9: tristezza (angst)

Rin is beautiful.

Ryuuji is about to die and he can’t think anything else.

Rin is beautiful in his wrath, blue flames burning brighter than the downing sun, his sword unsheathed in front of him, protecting them with his body.

“Do you think you can save them? Do you think you can beat _me_?” Satan laughs. “My son, you’re even more reckless than I thought.”

Rin grits his teeth, his tail flicking around him, impatient for the fight.

 _He’s like a cat_ , Bon thinks.

“He should have tucked it away,” Konekomaru says toneless, almost an afterthought.

“What?” Shima asks, bewildered like he cannot make sense of everything that’s happening, not only Konekomaru’s words. The boy doesn’t reply, as if he hasn’t heard him. 

The truth is that they are scared and Rin is the only one who is doing something. The only one who _can_ do something.

It dawned on them that for how much they could train, how much they could prepare, they were useless against Satan. They were as good as dead.

Had Rin not be there with his Kurikara, had he not been the one to take action, that’s what they would have been. Dead.

Not that they won’t be in a few minutes.

Satan is Satan and for how much Bon believes in Rin, he’s not sure Okumura can defeat him. Yukio is already an unconscious lump in a corner, blood pouring from his temple, his right arm twisted in a not very physiological way. But he’s alive. For now.

“Cooperate” Satan offers, “you just need to say yes and I’ll spare your brother and your little friends. They can go on with their lives, I’ll make sure my demons won’t bother them when we’ll take over Assiah.”

Rin, tightening his grip on the hilt, opens his mouth to say no, but Satan’s widening grin runs shivers down his spine.

“Or I can fight you, take possession of your body and then kill every single one in a painful way while you watch helplessly. You know you can’t defeat me.” 

And he’s so sure of it, so damn sure of it, that Rin starts to falter. He’s not enough, his will is not strong enough to defeat him, then Satan, his _father_ , will take possession of his body, the ultimate vessel nurtured to hold him, so perfect and flawless, since it took even Yukio powers - Yukio who couldn’t hold him for more than minutes and got thrown away, half consumed.

“Your choice” Satan chuckles, with the low voice of the priest he’s possessing.

Rin bites his lower lip.  
“Fine.”

“No!” They all say, almost a single voice for how simultaneous they are.

Rin holds on a hand, shushing them with the gesture.

“It’s my choice.”

Bon wants to scream, wants to yell at him that it’s not only _his_ choice when the whole world is at stake, that he’s ready to die if it means Satan’s not gonna rule over Assiah, that Rin life is worthier than this for him to throw it away.

But Bon would do the same thing if role where reversed. Bon would throw his life away for the cause, but he wouldn’t stand seeing his friends die. They were each other's weaknesses.

“Let me say goodbye to them at least” Rin pleads.

“Of course” Satan agrees, so benevolent in his complacency.

Rin sheathes the sword and turns, giving him his back, thrusting him to let him have at least this moment.

He hugs Shiemi and she’s crying, sobbing into the crook of his neck, gripping his shirt as if she could keep him there. Rin disentangles himself from her arms, but can’t even catch his breath as Shima and Konekomaru are next, throwing themselves at him.

“Please, don’t,” Shima says and “Fight him, don’t worry about us” Konekomaru adds.

“Mine is the only body that could stand his possession,” he says and yes they all know it, that’s why he’s making a deal, the idiot shouldn’t talk about it as if it was a pro. 

“You shouldn’t do it for us, you moron!” Tears are rolling down Kamiki’s cheeks and she breaks as they are all breaking, launching herself at him, like the boys did, squeezing him.

Rin extricates from their arms and they’re looking hurt, wanting to keep him there a little more, wanting to keep him safe as long as possible.

“His current body won’t last long,” he says like that should mean anything to them.

“You needn’t hurry to give yourself up” Bon is harsh. He doesn’t dare to be sentimental, doesn’t dare because what if he starts crying and spills everything and… no. Bon is not gonna be part of the farewell.

But Rin turns to him, ignoring his roughness, and smiles sadly. “I wouldn’t do it - shit, you would probably kill me, but I’m gonna die anyway, so I guess it’s my last chance.”

Rin blushes and Ryuji’s brain enters again on a loop, thinking how cute he is. He’s gonna hug him - _he’s gonna hug him!_ \- and this is definitely not the right moment to dwell on his crush, this is why he didn’t want to say a tearful goodbye. Oh my God, they are gonna die and Bon can’t think of a single line of the scriptures to recite.

He’s an idiot.

But whatever, Satan is never gonna hold to his promise, so if they are all gonna die even if Rin surrenders his body, Bon can at least have this moment.

Rin throws his arm around his neck - _he’s hugging him!_ it’s everything Bon keeps thinking - and then kisses him, brushing his lips against his, eyes squeezed shut to not see the rejection. Bon is taken so much by surprise his brain short circuits.

Then Rin is getting away, leaving him between the gasps of their friends - because, Shiemi, they all thought it was Shiemi when it actually was Bon, it had been Bon all along,and it was so unexpected - and Ryuji couldn’t let him. Ryuji couldn’t let him go away, go die without letting him know it was the same.

He grabs his cheeks, stopping him from retreating, and pulls him in, slamming him against his chest before kissing him back, smashing their mouth together.

And who cares about anything, they are gonna die.

“Ehm ehm” Satan coughs. “I think this is enough goodbye, my son, don’t you?”

Rin leaves him, slipping between his hands and Bon wants to scream and throw a punch at Satan and this distorted “boyfriend meets the family” shit.

“Oi, Okumura! Rin!” he calls instead, “You come back, you heard me? You have to come back.”

Rin turns and smiles sadly, shaking his head. “Just make sure to protect yourself. You all.”

Bon doesn’t understand, he would have expected him to wink and say of course he wasn’t gonna surrender.Deep down he never believed Rin would actually give himself up, but Rin is so sad and resigned… Bon realizes it’s over.

Satan won.

It’s the end of the world as they know it.

“You want the demoniac form, right?” Rin asks his father and he nods, so Rin takes Kurikara and unsheathes it, blue flames flaring widely.

It’s over.

“It’s over,” Rin says, not letting go of the sword, but placing it in front of him.

“I thought we had an agreement” Satan snarls.

“I guess not.”

“You are gonna lose.”

“I’m not gonna fight” Rin answers instead. “See you in hell, dad.”

Then Rin places Kurikara against his throat and slices.

As blood spurts from his veins he falls on his knees, the sword clattering on the floor, no longer flaming.

Bon screams and so do his friends, rushing toward him, and now all of this makes sense.

They are protected, Satan can’t possess their bodies and the one he’s using as a vessel is withering away. Without Rin’s body, he’ll have to go back to Gehenna and plan something else. Rin just bought them decades with his life.

Satan realizes it as well and his scream is so full of anger and darkness and pain as it roars, but he’s defeated and the body he’s using collapses under him.

Bon hurts so much he wonders if it will ever stop.


End file.
